Lance Armstrong came within seconds of losing the race leader’s yellow jersey on the 14th stage of the Tour de France here today after a gruelling 191.5 km of riding between St Girons and here. Armstrong, who is bidding for a fifth consecutive Tour crown, came under attack from Telekom rider Alexandre Vinokourov, who started the day in third place overall at just over a minute behind, on the day’s final climb. Vinokourov, the 29-year-old Kazakh who has won the Paris-Nice, the Tour of Switzerland and the Amstel gold race this year, came in sixth and was only 18 seconds away from pulling on the race leader’s jersey. The stage was won by Saeco team leader Gilberto Simoni who held off Frenchman Richard Virenque after a sprint finish to the line to claim his first Tour de France stage win. “It’s an absolute joy to win a stage on the Tour,” beamed Simoni, who won the Tour of Italy in June but has suffered on the Tour so far after having boldly predicted success. “I’m pretty lucky as well because I’m not in the best of form and I even thought of abandoning yesterday. Thankfully my team manager talked me out of it, he told me I could still win a stage. It’s great, especially after being hummiliated (in the Alps).” Simoni had been part of a four-man group which broke away from a group of 17 riders after they had enjoyed a significant lead at the front for most of the stage having begun their breakaway after just four kilometres of the stage, which included a total of six Pyrenean climbs.
